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Multiple-Meaning Words

A multiple-meaning word is spelled and said the same way but means different things: a bat flies at night, and you hit a ball with a bat. Context is the only clue, which is why these words are such good reading practice.

Here are 120 multiple-meaning words from past ClueBy puzzles, each with a real example sentence for every meaning. Use them as a reference, or make a printable worksheet below.

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Students read each sentence and write the missing word. Every word appears in several sentences, each time with a different meaning.

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Multiple-Meaning Words

Name: ____________________Date: __________

Write the missing word in each sentence. Each word is used more than once, with a different meaning each time.

  1. Millions watch the Super ________________ every February.
  2. Place the flour, butter and salt into a large clean ________________.
  3. The water is too ________________.
  4. Doesn't taking care of babies ________________ you?
  5. He took the fish out of the ________________.
  6. The hotel is built around a mineral ________________.
  7. The ball hit the back of the ________________.
  8. Have you found your soul ________________?
  9. Use a drill to ________________ a hole in the wall.
  10. When are we going to ________________?
  11. She ________________ him three sons and a daughter.
  12. The little girl was crying for the teddy ________________.
  13. Many happy returns to all who ________________ the name of a flower!
  14. A black ________________ roamed the forest.
  15. Algeria is a ________________ of gas and oil.
  16. Excuse me, sorry ________________, you haven't got the time have you?
  17. The flowers bloom in the ________________.
  18. Its rival in the ________________ War, the Soviet Union, exploited this at the time.
  19. Males and females first ________________ when two years old.
  20. There's a broken ________________ in the bed.
  21. It's your turn to ________________ the ball down the lane.
  22. I had a bad ________________ and was in bed for a week.
  23. I'm the one who owns all this ________________.
  24. What was your ________________ profit last year?

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com

Answer key

  1. bowl — a football final
  2. bowl — a dish
  3. cold — not warm
  4. bore — to tire
  5. net — for catching
  6. spring — of water
  7. net — in sport
  8. mate — a partner
  9. bore — to drill
  10. land — to come down
  11. bore — gave birth
  12. bear — the animal
  13. bear — to put up with
  14. bear — the animal
  15. land — a country
  16. mate — a friend
  17. spring — the season
  18. cold — the Cold War
  19. mate — to breed
  20. spring — a coil
  21. bowl — to roll
  22. cold — an illness
  23. land — ground
  24. net — after costs

Multiple-meaning words list

Tick up to 10 words to build a worksheet with just those words.

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Frequently asked questions

What are multiple-meaning words?

Words with the same spelling and pronunciation but more than one meaning, like bark (of a dog or of a tree) or bank (for money or of a river). You can only tell which meaning is meant from the rest of the sentence.

Are multiple-meaning words the same as homonyms?

Mostly, yes. Teachers often use "multiple-meaning words" and "homonyms" for the same idea. Homophones are different: they sound alike but are spelled differently, like flour and flower.

Are the worksheets free?

Yes. Make and print as many as you like for home or classroom use. Each sheet has its own link, so you can print the same one again.

Where do the words come from?

From past ClueBy puzzles, a daily game where you sort twelve sentences by their missing word. A new puzzle every day adds four more words to this list.

Sentences from ClueBy, Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR) and Common Voice (CC0). clueby.com